The Long Road Home
by TBorah89
Summary: What if Deacon had known about Maddie from the start? What if Rayna hadn't married Teddy or Deacon right away? An AU look at how things could have been different leading up to the start of the series.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is an AU look at the ups and downs of Rayna and Deacon's relationship if they had tried to make a go of things together after Maddie was born. This story is a collaboration with TamiTaylor.

Disclaimer: I don't own Nashville or any of the characters I'm just borrowing them for a little while.

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Chapter 1

Rayna stood at the back of the church with her hand resting on her stomach in what had become a habit for her. She gazed at the altar that loomed at the end of the aisle. To her it looked more like a tombstone than a symbol of hope. This should feel like the beginning of her life instead of the end. She should have been filled with hope instead of the impending sense of doom.

The man she was less than twenty-four hours from marrying wasn't the man she wanted to spend her life with. The man she wanted to spend her life with couldn't give her or their unborn baby the kind of life that she wanted their child to have. So, as much as it killed her inside she made the choice to do what was best for her baby.

From across the room Tandy could see her baby sister with a far-off look on her face. She walked over and put her arm around her. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine," Rayna forced a smile.

"You're not fine. I'm sure I know who you're thinking about right now. You're doing the right thing by marrying Teddy. You did the right thing by not telling him. I know that you don't love Teddy the way you thought you loved him, but those feelings will come in time. Not every couple who has gotten married did it because they were in love." Tandy advised her.

"I am fine. I know I have to do this for the baby." Rayna sighed.

What she couldn't say to her sister was that she had told Deacon about the baby. Tandy wouldn't understand why she'd done it. Part of her didn't even understand why she'd done it. Though there was another part of her that knew exactly why she'd told him. She'd wanted him to get jealous and stop her from marrying another man. She was disappointed that he hadn't tried to talk her out of marrying Teddy.

She didn't know why she was expecting some sort of last minute Hail Marry pass from Deacon. He'd shown her time and again that she couldn't count on him. It wasn't that he didn't love her it was that he loved whiskey more. She couldn't say that he didn't love her. When he was sober, he was the best man she'd ever known. The problem was keeping him sober.

"I know that you're sad right now and that'll take a while to pass. Look at Teddy standing down there waiting on you. He loves you and wants to take care of you. Focus on that. You may never be in love with him, but you can at least love him for what he's willing to do." Tandy told her.

"This feels wrong." Rayna admitted.

"Of course, it feels wrong he is normal and well put together. You're used to a messed-up alcoholic. This man is good and he is stable, but most importantly he's gonna be a good father and provider. You'll never have to go track him down in a bar either." Tandy pointed out to her.

"You're saying that I don't know what normal is like?" Rayna questioned.

"I'm saying that you don't know what it's like to be with a stable man." Tandy corrected her.

"Deacon isn't as horrible as you make him out to be. He does have good qualities." Rayna flashed an annoyed look at her. Her sister had always been critical of Deacon.

"Focus on Teddy and the way he looks at you and how that makes you feel. You will never be able to do that if you don't stop comparing him to Deacon. The best thing you can do is forget about Deacon Claybourne and the hell he's put you through." Tandy shot a frosty look back at her.

"You do know that this is more than likely his baby, right? I'm gonna have to look at his son or daughter every day and be reminded of him. It's gonna be hard not to think 'bout him." Rayna ran her hands over her face.

"Think of it this way. It's Teddy's child Deacon just supplied half the DNA." Tandy patted her back.

"That's easy for you to say. You at least had a choice in the matter when it came to picking your husband." Rayna scoffed.

Teddy walked down the aisle with a huge smile on his face. "Rayna, it's time to get this thing started if you're ready."

"Yeah, I'm ready. Just let me flag down my daddy." Rayna waved Lamar over.

"I'll go take my place." Tandy excused herself.

Lamar walked over and took Rayna's arm. "You've made a fine choice in a husband, Rayna. He comes from a good family and he makes a good living. For a while there I didn't think you'd settle down with a decent man. Now you can start your family and not worry about life on the road. You got that out of your system."

"Daddy, this is supposed to be a happy day. Please don't do or say anything that will make me angry." Rayna groaned.

"If this is supposed to be a happy day, why don't you look very happy?" Lamar countered.

"Just walk me down the aisle, daddy." Rayna rolled her eyes at him. There was no reasoning with that man. She didn't feel the need to even try, nor was she in the mood.

Lamar wisely didn't argue with her. Instead he walked her down the aisle.

The minister made his opening remarks like he would during the ceremony. "I ask now that if anyone know of any reason these two should not be joined in holy matrimony speak now or forever hold your peace."

The doors of the church busted open with a bang. Deacon came running in. The soles of his cowboy boots made an echoing click as he marched down the aisle.

"Deacon, you need to go, right now." Tandy turned around and pointed a finger at him.

"I will as soon as I say what I came here to say." Deacon was wild eyed and breathing heavily.

Rayna turned around to look at him. She couldn't help the hopeful feeling that surged through her.

"Ray, before I came here I was sittin' on the couch starin' at a bottle of Jack. I had two options I could open that bottle and finish it off or I could come here and beg you for one more chance. For the first time I chose you over the whiskey. I'm here and I'm askin' for one more chance. I love you more than anythin' in this world and I can't live without ya." Deacon held his hand out to her.

Rayna worried with her bottom lip nervously, but she didn't speak.

"Deacon, you have no brain in your head, son. Why would she pick you when she has a chance to be with a better man?" Lamar looked at him like he was crazy.

"Come on, Ray, take my hand. Don't make a mistake that you can't take back. Just take my hand and walk outta here with me tonight. We can put this thing back together. We can build a life together like we've always talked 'bout." Deacon's eyes had a pleading look in them.

"Claybourne, you're too late. She's pregnant, we are having a child. You came to your senses a day late and a dollar short." Teddy got up in his face.

"She's havin' my baby, not yours. Don't you ever refer to my child as yours again." Deacon turned on him with a cold look.

"Rayna," Tandy hissed at her sister.

"Deacon, I can't do this with you now. You have to go. If you love me you'll do this for me." Rayna ignored her sister.

"I ain't leavin' here without ya, babe." Deacon kept his hand extended to her.

"You're gonna have to. You walk out that door with her over my dead body." Teddy pushed him.

"This has nothin' to do with you. I'm gonna forget just this once that you put your hands on me." Deacon did his best to keep his temper under control.

"Deacon, if you love your child you'll go. The stress isn't good for either of us." Rayna tried to get him out of there before he could cause any more damage.

Deacon closed his eyes tightly and shook his head. "If you change your mind you know where to find me." He went to talk away, but he turned back around and kissed her deeply before he walked out.

* * *

"Rayna, you have no idea how embarrassed I am right now. You didn't even discuss this with me before you went and told him." Teddy followed Rayna into her apartment with a scowl marring his handsome face.

"Teddy, that's how you wanna start this conversation?" Rayna turned to glare at him. He'd been silent the whole ride home from the church.

"I don't want to be having this conversation at all. Do you have any idea how bad I look right now?" Teddy pulled a bottle of whiskey off the top of the fridge. He twisted the cap off and drank from the neck of the bottle without using a glass.

Rayna's jaw dropped in disbelief. For whatever reason she kept falling for men who thought drinking was the way to deal with their problems. "I'm sorry that you're embarrassed, but you're not the one who looks bad in this situation, I am. You're the good guy willing to marry the woman who doesn't know who her baby's father is. I'm the whore who spread her legs for two men and now doesn't know which one is the father of her baby. As bad as this is for you, it's much worse for me."

"We wouldn't be in this position right now if you hadn't gone behind my back and told him that this baby is his. As much as I want to believe this is my child I think we both know that it's Claybourne's and that's the way you want it. You'll never have him out of your system. He's no good for you and he's only ever going to leave you broken." Teddy took another swig from the bottle.

"It was the right thing to do, Teddy. I couldn't live the rest of my life with that secret hanging over my head. One way or another Deacon would have found out that this is his child and then there would have been hell to pay. It wasn't fair to any of us to have to live our lives that way. It would have been much worse for this child if it came out years from now that Deacon was the father. And you better believe that knowing him the way that I do he would fight to the death for his baby. We couldn't build a marriage on that lie even if we were both in on it." Rayna took a deep breath and sat down on the couch. She was trying her very best not to get overwhelmed by stress. The most important job she had from now on was making sure her baby was happy and healthy.

"Forget that that drunk just made a fool of me in front of my family. What are you going to do about this? I know what I'd like to do, but the ball is clearly in your court. How and where we go from here is up to you." Teddy sat the bottle down on the counter and stared at her intently.

"Please don't look at me like I have all the answers, because I don't. I don't know what to do in this situation. I'm a woman torn between doing the best thing for her child and picking the man that she loves." Rayna put her hands over her face.

Teddy's face turned the shade of a tomato. "You can't be serious right now. Tell me there's no way that you're thinking about going back to him. He had his chance. He doesn't get to show up with this last minute Hail Mary pass and win you back. Not after all the chances he's had to get this right and he's never rose to the occasion." He fumed.

"Would it really be fair to anyone in this situation if I married you? I'll be honest I'm not in love with you. I care for you, but we haven't been together long enough for me to have those deep feelings for you yet. I will always be in love with Deacon no matter what. I will be honest about that too. Does he deserve another chance? I don't know the answer to that. Does my baby deserve the truth about everything? Absolutely. This child deserves to have my love and Deacon's love. I don't know what that looks like yet and I think it would be unfair for me to marry you with an unclear picture in my head. I can't say that I don't want to go back to him." Rayna was open and honest with him about what she was feeling.

"Rayna, please don't do this. We are getting married tomorrow. I've always known that I love you more than you love me and that's ok. If you want Deacon to be a part of this child's life we can work that out. He can have visitation or something. We both know that I'm better for you and for the baby. He's had every chance to make this right with you, but he hasn't. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result." Teddy took another drink from the whiskey bottle.

Rayna gave him a derisive snort. "You're right about that. You want to prove to me that you better for me than Deacon is, but you're handling this the way he would."

"Oh, come on, there's a difference between me having a drink now and him drinking all the time. Rayna, the only thing he's going to do is hurt and disappoint you like always. I can't believe you'd want to risk him doing that to a baby. At least if you married me this baby would have one father it could always count on no matter what." Teddy argued with her.

"My head is telling me that I should marry you, but my heart is saying something different. As long as the two of them are battling it out I don't think I can be with either one of you." Rayna admitted.

"Please don't do this to us. I love you even if you say you don't love me I know that you can in time." Teddy pleaded with her.

"Teddy, I don't see how I can marry you. I can't bring a baby into the world with this much confusion." A tear fell down Rayna's cheek.

"Just give me a chance to change your mind." Teddy begged her.

Rayna sighed and ran her hands over her face. "You can talk and I'll listen. I can't promise you anything more than that right now."

* * *

The sun shone down on the water making it sparkle. The light spilled through the gauzy white curtains that were on the windows. Deacon rubbed his eyes and blinked to bring everything back into focus. He'd told Rayna that those curtains were a bad idea that they would get blasted with the sun. She hadn't listened to him like usual. Apparently, that wasn't his problem anymore.

He'd put it all on the line to tell her how he felt about her and she hadn't left with him. That spoke volumes more to him than any words could. He hadn't moved from the couch since he got there. He'd been staring at a bottle of whiskey all night. More than once he'd wanted to pick it up, but he stopped himself. He may not have had Rayna anymore, but he did have a child on the way.

He was already going to have to fight to be a part of his child's life. He wasn't going to do anything to make that any worse. Everyone had known about this baby before he had. That didn't bode well for his chances of getting to be a major part of its life. He'd be damned if he was just going to sit back and let Teddy Conrad raise his child though. He was going to fight with everything he had in him to make sure he got to be a daddy.

He was so engrossed in his staring contest with the bottle of Jack that he didn't notice the door to the cabin open. He only looked up when he noticed a figure out of the corner of his eye.

"Tell me that you didn't actually drink that. Tell me you've just been looking at that bottle all night. I swear to God, Deacon. I will put you right back in rehab if you so much as sniffed that whiskey." Rayna had her hands on her hips.

"What are you doin' here, Ray? I think you said everything you needed to say when you didn't walk out of that church with me last night. I'm not your problem anymore." Deacon grumbled.

"Did you drink that?" Rayna ignored his question.

"No, I didn't drink it. I wanted to. I wanted to so badly. I knew I'd never get a chance to be a father if I did. One more drink wasn't worth losin' my baby. I obviously already lost you." Deacon looked up at her with the saddest eyes she'd ever seen.

"Don't be an idiot, Deac. If you'd lost me I wouldn't be here right now. I would be back at the house getting ready to go through with the wedding I just called off. Teddy begged and pleaded with me all night not to call things off with him. I couldn't go through with it. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life being miserable. He may have everything going for him, but he's not you and that's the only thing that matters to me." Rayna stared him down.

"You mean it? You're not gettin' married?" Deacon's eyes shone with joy and unshed tears.

"It wouldn't be fair to anyone involved if I did. I know as sure as I know my own name that this baby is yours. It wouldn't be fair to it, you, me, or even Teddy if I married him. I don't want to raise this baby up with him I want to raise it up with you. You're on your absolute last chance and I need you to know that now. If you slip again I really won't be there waiting for you this time." Rayna laid down the law.

"I promise you that I'm gonna do everythin' in my power to say sober." He swore to her.

To prove his point, he picked the bottle of whiskey up from the table and poured it down the kitchen sink. He needed her and his child more than he needed a drink.

She watched him intently. "I'm proud of you. I was so afraid when you weren't at our house I was gonna come up here and find you drunk and tearing the place up. That's what happened the last time I came up here to talk to you. You have no idea how relieved I am that I found you sober."

"What happens now?" He slipped his hands into the back pockets of his jeans.

"I don't know what happens now. I just want to live right here in this moment if that's ok with you." She shrugged her shoulders.

"That's more than ok with me." He opened his arms to her and crossed the floor in long strides. He took her into his arms and kissed her deeply. He was grateful that he was still able to do that. She was really still his.

Rayna pulled away from him and stared into his eyes. "I just spent all night convincing Teddy that I wasn't going to take you back. I was lying to myself as much as I was to him when I said that."

"I thought you just said you wanted to live in the moment." Deacon looked at her confused.

"I think you and I both know that the minute you prove to me that you're serious about your sobriety and being a father to this baby I'll take you back. That's the problem I'll always take you back. You've gotta stay clean this time though, all that back and forth can't happen with a baby." Rayna stared into his eyes.

"I don't want to be to this baby what my old man was to me and I don't wanna make you my momma." Deacon's eyes filled with tears.

"I know that. And that's why I think rehab has never really worked for you. It addresses the drinking, but not the reason you drink. I think that we need to get you into therapy. I know that you hate the idea and before this I would have never tried to push it on you, but we created a life together that's more important than both of us. It's not just about what we want anymore." Rayna rubbed his biceps.

Deacon bit his bottom lip nervously. "Is that a condition of gettin' you back or me gettin' to be a daddy?"

"No, I know better than to try to push you. I know that you wanna be a good daddy, so I know you'll do this on your own. You will be sober and stay sober for at least a year before I feel comfortable leaving this baby alone with you." Rayna put her foot down.

"I can handle that. I've already got some of that time down." Deacon couldn't fault her for her reservations.

"Other than that, we will play it by ear." Rayna nodded her head in agreement with him.

"Is there anythin' else?" Deacon hated like hell that she was dictating the terms of him getting to be a father, but he had caused this.

Rayna looked down at the floor and then looked up at him lustfully. "Take me to bed and have your way with me like it's the last time it's every gonna happen."

Deacon scooped her up in his arms and kissed her so hard it took her breath away. For a change he carried her upstairs to their bedroom and he kicked the door closed behind them.

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A/N: Here is the first chapter. I hope you guys enjoy it. Until next time please review.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews. This chapter was written by **TamiTaylor**

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Chapter 2

The last few weeks for Rayna had been a whirlwind ever since Deacon came rushing into the church and begged her not to marry Teddy. The strawberry blonde spent a good 12 hours arguing with Teddy about how she simply could not marry him. Teddy still wasn't taking no for an answer, 5 weeks later and he was still texting and calling her daily to check on the baby and to beg her to change her mind and come back to him. Things with Rayna and Deacon were stable they were trying to find a happy medium on how to raise their child. While Rayna loved Deacon more than the sun, moon and stars she wasn't ready to dive straight back into the treacherous waters and get back together with him. She needed to know that he was serious about being sober and staying sober.

Rayna was sitting on the couch in her apartment picking out her favorite baby boy and girl names in preparation for their anatomy scan at the end of the week. When she heard a knock on her door she assumed it was Deacon because he had promised he would come over and go over the names with her so they could narrow down their favorite ones before the appointment. Rayna put the book down on the coffee table and walked over to the front door and smiled as she opened it. Her smiled quickly disappeared when she noticed that it wasn't Deacon on the other side of her door. It was Tandy and Lamar. She had successfully avoided their calls and obvious visits to her house the last couple of weeks since she called the wedding off and broke up with Teddy.

Rayna sighed and leaned against the door. "Daddy, Tandy. I can't say that I'm surprised y'all are here - because I knew this visit was inevitable." She spoke dryly and stepped out of the way to let them both into the apartment.

Tandy and Lamar both stepped inside of Rayna's apartment and looked around. Rayna eyed them as they glanced around the kitchen and living room. She knew who they were looking for.

"He's not here..." She spoke up "Not that it's any of y'all business if he was here or not." She added

"What in the hell do you think you are doing, Rayna. You threw a life with a good man who would be reliable, dependable and supportive away to be with an unreliable, destructive drunk." Lamar barked, he stood firm in the living room and stared her down.

"Teddy was _your_ choice for me. He wasn't _my_ choice. I don't care how reliable and great he is. He isn't Deacon. He'll never be Deacon, daddy. It wasn't fair to me, him or anyone else involved if I had went through with the wedding. It was wrong." Rayna replied and walked back over to the couch and sat down, pulling her legs up underneath her and placing her hand on her stomach protectively.

"What is your big plan then Rayna? Marry Deacon, raise this baby with him?" Tandy asked her sister.

Rayna shrugged her shoulders at the question. She hadn't thought about what was going to happen between her and Deacon know that she wasn't marrying Teddy and they were planning on co-parenting to the best of their ability. She loved Deacon and she wanted to be his wife and raise their child up in loving and stable home, but she still wasn't 100 percent certain that his 5th stint in rehab was going to stick. Sure he was constantly trying to prove it to her that he was done with the pills and booze, but she had been down that road one too many times with him before.

"I don't have a big plan, Deacon and I are going to be raising this baby with each other one way or another. We aren't together if that's what you're getting at, he's trying to prove that he can stay sober. I love him and I want to be with him for the sake of our child, but I need to know that he is better and that things won't be the same. I'm not stupid enough to put a child through what I went through with him." Rayna paused and rubbed her stomach slowly and looked down at the swell of her bump. "It's not about me or Deacon anymore. It's about the baby." She added

"No, here's what you are going to do. You are going to call Teddy and tell him you made a mistake and you want to be with him. The two of you will get married before this baby is born and he will be this baby's father. Claybourne is not father material and he's hardly husband material." Lamar said firmly, "Conrad is your best bet at being happy and that child having a happy, stable life and family - make the call Rayna." He finished folding his arms across his chest.

"I can't do that!" Rayna exclaimed, "I won't do it. I'm not going to trap him into a marriage because it make you feel more comfortable. I'm not going to ask him to raise another man's baby - when that man is willing and wants to be a daddy." She added, "You can't just bully someone into making a choice they don't want. Why can't you both just stay out of it and let me do what it is that I think is best for me and my child."

"We only want what's best for you, Rayna. I've watched you and had to pick you up off the ground more times than I can count on both of my hands when Deacon's messed up. Just because it's his baby that doesn't mean he's going to change and be everything you need him to be." Tandy tried to reason with her knowing that arguing with her would get them nowhere considering they were all three stubborn as mules.

"I appreciate it, but I think I got this handled. Last time I checked it was my baby. Mine and Deacon's and no one else's. We were the only two people that were present the night this child was conceived. He says things are going to be different that he needs me and the baby more than he needs to drink. I trust him with every fiber of my being. I know being with him is the right thing to do. If the two of you can't be happy for me and accept the fact that I am having his baby - then you can both leave and don't bother coming back. I don't want people in my child's life if they don't approve of their father."

Lamar and Tandy both sat back and looked at Rayna while she spoke. Lamar couldn't sit there and act like he was supportive of this decision of hers but Rayna had never been one to obey him or his wishes - why did he expect her to do such a thing now. Tandy, however was almost certain that it was just the pretty picture that Deacon was painting for Rayna that was drawing her sister back into his grasps. There was one thing that they all three could agree on and that was that they weren't going to see eye to eye on the subject.

Lamar threw his hands up in defeat. "When this blows up in your face as I know it will. Don't say I didn't try to give you a better option." He spoke and turned to walk towards the door and walked out of the apartment.

The loud thud of the door caused Rayna to jump on the couch. She looked down at her stomach and tried to hold back the tears, making sure not to look up and make eye contact with her sister.

"You can go too, Tandy." She muttered lowly.

Tandy looked at her and sighed, "Rayna..."

"Please, just go. I don't have the energy to fight you and daddy on this anymore."

Tandy sighed once again and made her way to the door and walked out of the apartment. As soon as Rayna was alone she allowed the tears she was holding back to fall from her eyes and cascade all over her face.

* * *

Rayna was sitting on the exam room table fidgeting with her hands in her lap, her eyes scanning around the room. Deacon was sitting in the corner of the room in a chair bouncing his leg nervously. They had barely spoken to each other since they got into the room, they were both nervous about the appointment and finding out the sex of the baby. Deacon had voiced his preference on more than one occasion, a son. He wanted a son to teach how to play the guitar, play catch with and do all of those boy things that he never got to do with his Father.

"Do you have to go to a meeting after the appointment?" Rayna asked finally breaking the silence that had fallen between the two of them.

"I was going to hit one this afternoon. I went to one this morning before I met you here. I told you I was going to go to two a day for as long as I thought I needed too - but you and this baby are keeping me sober. I don't need the booze."

Rayna had been increasingly impressed with how well Deacon was doing with his sobriety. He had been out of rehab for a few months and he had yet to relapse. While she wanted to take credit for it she couldn't. Deacon had to want to get sober for himself, he needed to want it otherwise, it wasn't going to stick - which is exactly where Rayna went wrong the 4 times before this one. She wanted him to get better, she needed him to get sober and stay sober - her nagging only pushed him further away.

"I'm proud of you of you for being able to stay on the straight and narrow." Rayna smiled up at him, for once in their relationship Deacon was clear minded, reliable and dependable.

Rayna's ultimatum constantly echoed through Deacon's ears on a daily basis. He knew she was serious about him being on his absolute final chance with her and truthfully, he couldn't blame her. He had fucked up and let her down more times than he ever should have. Deacon wasn't going to do that this time around. He wanted to show her that he could be that man that she had always needed him to be.

"You kicked my ass pretty good that day. The thought of losing you to someone else and the thought of losing my baby to another man, makes me sick. I don't want anyone else raising my kid with you." Deacon spoke firmly, he really didn't want Teddy anywhere near his child or Rayna for that matter.

"Deac, as long as things keep going the way they have been - you aren't going to lose me or this baby. We're going to raise this baby together whether we are together or not." She appreciated his enthusiasm but Rayna felt like it was almost too good to be true considering their past.

Before Deacon could respond to her there was a knock on the exam room door and the OB walked into the room and smiled at them both as he walked across the small room and sat Rayna's file down on the counter and turned to face her.

"Good afternoon -Rayna, Deacon. How are you feeling today? Still having an issues with morning sickness?" Dr. Thompson asked her as he washed his hands and stepped next to Rayna, motioning for her to lay back.

Rayna laid back on the exam table and lifted her stomach slightly to expose the bare swell of the bump of her stomach. "Here and there. Mostly in the mornings, the food cravings have kicked in more than anything the last few weeks."

The doctor nodded his head and he pressed on Rayna's stomach gently. Deacon stood back to the side and watched as the doctor talked to Rayna about a variety of different things and did his exam. He felt like they would never get to the anatomy scan of the baby.

"So, are we wanting to find out the sex today or do we want to wait until delivery to find out?" Dr. Thompson asked them both as he turned the ultrasound machine on and got everything set up for the sonogram portion of the appointment.

Rayna looked at Deacon and took his hand in hers and laced their fingers together, giving his hand a gentle squeeze. "We want to know today." Deacon responded, looking back down at Rayna and smiling lovingly at her.

The Doctor nodded his head as he squirted the gel onto Rayna's stomach and placed the wand on her stomach and began moving it around. Rayna and Deacon both locked their eyes on the screen as images of their baby flashed on the screen and the heartbeat echoed through the room.

"Heart rate is still nice and strong." The doctor spoke, making note of a few measurements, "Alright, you see that right there." He pointed to the center of the screen, "That's a leg, some long legs too and that right there in the middle is a little girl." He added, "Congratulations, It's a Girl."

"A girl. We're having a girl." Deacon choked back on the tears that had been forming in his eyes since the first image of his baby popped up on the screen. He gave Rayna's hand a tight squeeze and out of reflex leaned down and pressed his lips to hers and kissed her passionately.

Rayna couldn't hold back the tears in her eyes herself when she heard the words 'It's a Girl' come out of her OB's mouth. She could see how excited Deacon was and she was a little taken back when he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. She cupped his face with her free hand and kissed him back. "Now you have two girls to fight for." She whispered against his lips and kissed him again.

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A/N: Here is the next chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Until next time please review.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thanks to all the reviewers.

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Chapter 3

Rayna was standing in the doorway of the spare room in her condo. She had moved out of her one bedroom apartment in Midtown and found a darling little 2 bedroom, 2.5 bath condo in the 12th South Neighborhood of Nashville. The spare bedroom was perfect for the nursery — it had a lot of natural light and storage for the massive amount of things that Rayna had purchased and either been given from friends and people she didn't even know at different labels in town. She was nesting at least that was what all of her books said. They had been putting furniture together and rearranging the room a million times for weeks and Rayna still wasn't completely in love with the room. She didn't imagine that she would be setting up a room for her daughter in a home that Deacon wasn't going to live in too, none of this was how she pictured it or wanted it to be.

Deacon was moving all of the furniture into the middle of the room and laying plastic over everything so that they could paint. He was pretty much staying at Rayna's more often than not to help her out around the house and get things ready for their impending arrival. Rayna's due date wasn't for another 4 weeks and they were in full blown panic mode trying to get everything done. Luckily, Deacon had finished most of the things at his place before he started helping Rayna with the nursery at her house.

Rayna walked into the room slowly and plopped down in the rocking chair and watched him as he opened up the pale pink paint can. "You don't think her room is going to be too pink do you?"

Deacon chuckled and shook his head, "Babe, you wanted pink — are you second guessing it already?"

"Maybe, but I don't think we really have time to change it now." Rayna shrugged slightly and rubbed her stomach slowly. "What if she hates pink?"

"If she hates pink, we have a few years before she can make it known that she hates it." Deacon tried to assure her.

Rayna smiled faintly at him and rubbed her stomach as the baby kicked. "You're right." She smiled at him again.

The closer Rayna got to her due date the more anxious, she became. She was scared to death to become a parent — she had no idea how she was going to do it and furthermore, had no idea what was going to happen between her and Deacon. He had been nothing short of amazing since she told him she was pregnant with his baby and she had called things off with Teddy. He was understanding for the first time in their entire relationship of her needing space to figure things out. They still hadn't talked about what they wanted once the baby was born. Their daily conversations consisted around the baby, Rayna's mood swings and her food cravings. They weren't together — that was a certainty. Rayna had made a promise to herself and to Deacon that there would be no sex until they worked things out, but that had lasted all of two-seconds by the time her second trimester hormones kicked in and they were making love twice a day.

Deacon winked at Rayna and went back to getting everything set up so he could begin painting the room. "My mom said she was going to send some paintings for you to hang up in here if you wanted. She also wanted me to tell you that she would be here when she's born to help." Deacon spoke as he dipped the roller into the paint pan and soaked it before starting to paint the wall.

"That is awful sweet of you. I think that would be the perfect thing to add to her room, a painting from her grandmother." Rayna rocked in the chair and watched him slide the roller over the wall and covering the wet pink paint over the dull white wall.

"She wanted to give you and her something special as a baby gift." Deacon spoke

Rayna propped her hand up on the top of her stomach and leaned back in the chair to get comfortable. Deacon bent down and gathered more paint on his roller. Rayna couldn't help but admire his backside as he bent over in front of her - Rayna had always enjoyed the way his jeans hugged him in all the right places.

Deacon noticed that she was checking him out and he winked at her. "Are you checking me out?" He teased her, he had read in her baby books that her sex drive could either increase or decrease — but he had never imagined that it would have increased as much as it had. Rayna had always been pretty up for anything, but her being pregnant was an entirely different ball game. Deacon has left in the middle of a gig or meeting on more than one occasion to rush over to tend to Rayna.

"I'm not..." Rayna stammered over her words and felt her cheeks turn fifty shades of red

"Uh-huh" Deacon chuckled and went back to painting the room. "So, you never did tell me if you had given anymore thought to those list of baby names."

They had been looking at baby names for the last four months and had finally narrowed their list down to three potential names. Deacon really loved Brooklyn Marie, while Rayna loved Emily Jean - their 3rd choice was one that they both loved but neither of them were dead set on. Deacon had picked out Kalyn as a first name and Rayna loved Leigh for a middle name.

"I'm still weighing our options, I personally think we're going to have a better idea of what we want to name her once we see her. Until then, I think we should still go with Kalyn Leigh - it's the only one we both agree on and like equally."

"Kalyn Leigh Claybourne," Deacon spoke out loud, "it still flows right off the tongue. It ain't very country music though."

Rayna laughed and rolled her eyes at him, "I didn't realize we had to name our child something that all of country music will be content with. Are we having this baby together or with the whole damn world?"

She had been pretty successful at keeping the majority of her pregnancy private from the media. The gender, the due date, etc was all a mystery to the outside world. Neither Rayna nor Deacon had wanted to share everything regarding the pregnancy, it was a special time between the two of them and they were content with sharing it with each other and their close friends and family.

"We're not, we picked out a few other names we liked. We don't have to decide right now, but we do need to decide before she's here." Deacon shrugged and continued painting.

"Yeah, I know - Tandy and I really want to get some monogrammed blankets and stuff, but we haven't been able to do that since we haven't settled on a name." Rayna sighed and picked up a teddy bear from the basket of stuffed animals next to the chair. "Teddy called today, by the way."

Deacon cringed when Rayna said Teddy's name and he gripped the handle on the paint roller tightly. Ever since she had called the wedding off and broke up with him, he was still trying to get back in her good graces and be a part of her life and the baby's life. Deacon hated the very thought of it and hated Teddy even more for trying to step in and keep his own child from him and in turn try to take something that didn't belong to him. It was his baby, not Teddy's and Rayna was his, not Teddy's - at least she used to be his. He was still bitter about the fact that Rayna went 3 months before she ever even told him that she was pregnant with his baby. He honestly believed that had he not walked into that church and begged her not to marry that prick — she would have and she would have raised their daughter with Teddy.

"What the hell did he want?" Deacon snarled as he forcefully painted the remainder of the wall.

"He knew that I had a doctor's appointment yesterday, he wanted to know what he said and how I was feeling."

Rayna knew that Teddy was still a rather sore subject when it came to Deacon and she couldn't blame him. She had almost done something that they couldn't come back from, she almost married a man she wasn't in love with because he was the safe choice and her father approved of him. She never wanted to hurt Deacon and she knew that a small piece of him resented her for ever even entertaining the idea of raising their baby with another man.

"What makes him think he has a right to know what the doctor had to say to you at your check up for our baby, he does realize that the kid ain't his. Its mine. What the hell are you even doing still talking to him, Rayna? I thought we were past this." Deacon turned around to look at her

"We're just friends Deacon, it's not like I'm doing anything shady behind your back and it's not like we're together." She paused, "We're having a baby, that's it." Rayna looked down at her stomach and rubbed it protectively.

Deacon dropped the roller back into the pan and paced around the room, Rayna's last words stabbing him in the chest like a thousand daggers. "That's it? That's all this is? Just us having a baby, Ray...you can't tell me that you honestly think that all this is between us is just us having a baby." Deacon threw his hands up in the air and sighed heavily, "You told me last night after we made love that this felt right. We felt right and that us raising our baby together felt right. Did you even mean it when you told me you loved me? Have you meant anything that you've said these last 5 months, Rayna - I can't keep pretending that I'm ok with waiting around for you to make your mind up."

"Deac..."

Rayna teared up and looked down not wanting to make eye contact with him, she knew he was hurting and she didn't mean for her words to come across has harsh as they had. The truth was she was scared. Scared of what would happen if she took him back.

"Babe, of course, I love you and of course I meant it all. I've loved you for the last 12 years, do you honestly think that I wouldn't still be in love with you now? Even if everything is so completely fucked up between us?" She wiped a tear that had rolled down her cheek away and looked up at him, "It does feel right, I want to raise this baby with you. These last few months have been more perfect than I could ever imagine, but I'm scared Deacon. We don't know what's going to happen once she's here. Things could change, we could change. I don't think I am ready to throw my heart back into the fire like that."

Deacon bit the corner of his lips and tried his best to hold back the tears that were forming in his own eyes as Rayna spoke. He never imagined that she would be having his baby and they wouldn't be together. Deacon knew that things were going to be different, his daughter wasn't going to live in the same house as him. He wasn't going to be able to sing her to sleep, or get up in the middle of the night to feed and change her or even dance around the living room at 3am when she was cranky and wouldn't go back to sleep. Rayna was going to be the one that did all of those things with their child.

He walked over to her and knelt in front of her in the rocking chair, Deacon cupped Rayna's cheek and wiped the tears on her cheek away with the pad of his thumb.

"Don't be scared, Ray. I know I have managed to let you down more times than I ever should've but that ain't gonna happen this time. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere." Deacon whispered lowly and pressed his forehead against hers and locked his eyes on her. "Don't give up on me, don't give up on us. We can do this together. We owe it to our daughter to try."

The tears flowed from Rayna's eyes as he spoke, without saying a word Rayna wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his and kissed him passionately. Deacon was a little taken back when Rayna's lips crashed with his, but he brought his free hand resting on her thigh up to her face and cupped both sides of her face in his hands — their lips against each others' in a heated kiss. Deacon drug his tongue across her bottom lip in attempt to gain access to her mouth when Rayna parted her lips and he darted his tongue in and tangled his tongue with hers. Rayna slipped her hand down his neck and across his chest slowly popping the buttons of his shirt open and not stopping until she had successfully unbuttoned them all and slipped the plaid top down his lean and toned arms and discarded it onto the floor. Deacon moved his lips across her jawline as he kissed his way down her neck and to the swell of her breasts. Rayna tilted her head back and let out a low moan as Deacon's lips brushed against her breasts and he looked up at her. Deacon took note of the look of lust and want in her eyes and pulled away from Rayna and pulled her out of the rocking chair and down onto the plush fur rug on the nursery floor.

Deacon hovered above her slipping his hands down her body slowly until he reached the hem of her sun dress and he lifted it up slowly. He attacked her neck with his lips once more as he hooked his hands in the waist band of her lace panties and pulled them down her legs and tossed them to the side. Rayna's hands raked through his hair roughly, as Deacon's hands roamed freely across her body and his lips left marks on the exposed skin of her neck and chest. Deacon shifted enough to undo his pants and boxers and push them down off his hips, before he hovered back above her and positioned himself at her entrance.

"Are you sure?" He whispered into Rayna's ear

Rayna nodded her head slowly, "Yes. I want too. I want you."

Their lips crashed back with one another's as Deacon slid himself into her slowly — the sensation warranted a small moan to escape from both of their lips.

"I'll be easy." Deacon moaned lowly and moved his hips slowly against her and tangled his hands in her hair.

Rayna clutched his shoulder blades tightly with her hands, digging her nails into his skin as their bodies moved with one another slow at first and then a little faster as Deacon picked the pace up, gradually. It didn't take long for either of them before their breathing became ragged and Deacon's hips became more erratic and forceful with each and every thrust into Rayna's warmth. Soon they were both falling over their edge from their orgasms, their moans echoed through the room as their names bounced off of the walls as Deacon came spilling into her warmth, soon after Rayna's own release.

Deacon buried his face in the crook of Rayna's neck and panted. "Damn, woman I do believe you are trying to kill me." He muttered and kissed her softly.

"I didn't ask you to this time, Deac." Rayna ran her hands up and down his back slowly and kissed the top of his head.

"You didn't say no or try to stop me either." He smirked

"Touché"

The pair laid there in comfortable silence, both trying to regain a normal heart rate and breathing pattern when Rayna felt a huge amount of pressure in her lower abdomen and a gush of fluid. Deacon's head shot up and looked at her.

"What the hell was that...?" He asked panicked

Rayna looked at him with a terrified look on her face. "I think my water just broke."

"Shit. Shit. Shit." Deacon exclaimed and climbed off of her and pulled his pants back on and helped her up out of the floor. "We gotta go. We gotta go to the hospital." He ran around the room and looked for the hospital bag for the baby and Rayna and grabbed them both.

Deacon helped Rayna change and helped her out of the condo and out into his truck. He loaded the bags into the back and drove to the hospital as fast as he could. Rayna sat in the passenger seat clutching the arm rest and groaning ever so often. "She can't come yet. It's not time, it's too early." Rayna cried through a contraction as they pulled into the hospital parking lot.

"It's ok, babe. It's all going to be ok, I promise." He took her hand and squeezed it. "I got you." Deacon pulled into a parking spot and turned the truck off. He jumped out and got Rayna out and rushed her into the ER. "My girlfriend's in labor. We need a room, ASAP." He exclaimed.

The nurse looked at him and handed him a clipboard with paperwork on it. "Name?"

"Jaymes, Rayna." He spoke as he took the clipboard and filled it out for Rayna as quickly as he could.

The nurse got them set up into a room in Labor & Delivery and left them to get settled in before the doctor came in. It felt like 5 seconds had passed from the time that Deacon parked the truck and helped her out and into the hospital. Rayna closed her eyes and tried to regulate her breathing as the contractions came and went. Deacon sat in the chair next to her bed and rubbed her arm slowly.

"Can I get you anything?" He asked

Rayna shook her head and turned to look at him. "No, babe. I'm ok for right now." She whispered lowly

"I guess this is all kinda my fault ain't it?"

"It's not your fault. She was ready to come out and give her mama and daddy one hell of scare in the process." Rayna smiled faintly at him.

"She's marching to the beat of her own drum already. I can't imagine who she gets that from." He kissed the back of her hand softly.

"I have no idea." Rayna laughed lightly,

Before either of them could speak again there was a knock on the door and Tandy rushed into the room and over to Rayna's bed side. "Rayna. I came as soon as I got your message, what did the doctor say?"

Rayna looked up at her older sister and shrugged, "Well, he obviously said that we are having a baby. She didn't want to wait to make her entrance into the world on her induction date - and decided she wanted today to be her birthday." She took her free hand and rubbed soothing circle on her stomach slowly.

Tandy glanced at Deacon and faked a smile. "Deacon, I think I can handle this from here. Thank you for bringing her and thank you for sitting her until I got here. You don't need to worry now." Tandy spoke dryly

Deacon chuckled lightly shaking his head and looked down at the floor. "Tandy, you are insane if you think I am lettin' you anywhere near my baby before I get to hold her first."

"Excuse me?" Tandy snorted,

"I believe ya heard me. That's my baby, she's about to have. Not yours, I am this child's father and I ain't going anywhere — you are more than welcome to stay in this room until Rayna starts pushing, but then your ass is out in the waiting room with everyone else that's here." Deacon stood firm and gave Tandy a warning look.

Rayna stared at the foot of the bed as the two shared dirty looks and harsh words with one another. She didn't want to get involved or caught in the middle of the argument, even if she knew it was inevitable. One thing was for certain, Rayna did not want the baby born into a hostile environment.

"Rayna, you need to talk some sense into this idiot." Tandy rolled her eyes

"He has a point, Tandy. I love you and while I would love for you to be in here when your niece is born — you can't be. I don't want her born into a room full of negativity and hostility. Deacon and I need to do this on our own. We're having a baby and becoming a family. We want to do this just the two of us. No one else." Rayna kept her voice calm and steady and hoped like hell that Tandy didn't flip out on her.

"And you are sure that this is what you want?" Tandy asked

Rayna nodded her head, "It's what I want."

"Then that's what'll happen" She sat down in the chair next to the contraction monitor and looked up at Deacon who was wiping Rayna's forehead and feeding her ice chips every couple of minutes.

For the next 3 hours Rayna's labor progressed and her contractions grew stronger and closer together than when they had first arrived at the hospital. She was laying on her side while Deacon rubbed small circle on the lower part of her back to ease the pressure from the contractions and labor pains.

"I hate you. I hate you so much." Rayna groaned as she gripped the railing on the hospital bed as another contraction hit.

"I know you don't really mean that, it's just the pain talking." Deacon replied and applied more pressure to her back. He wanted so badly to take her pain away. "Ray, are you sure you don't wanna get that epidural?" He asked

Rayna shook her head several times and looked back at him. "No, I don't want her born all drugged up. I want to do this naturally."

Deacon sighed, "You're in pain, baby — it may be a good idea to get it to ease some of your discomfort."

Deacon grabbed the damp washcloth off of the rolling tray next to the bed and wiped it across the back of her neck and across her face.

"We already talked about this, Deacon. I don't want it. My body was made for this - I'll be alright." Rayna tried to assure him but the truth was — she was terrified and a small part of her wanted the epidural.

"Just think about it, please." He spoke

"If it gets to be too much I will. Especially, if it'll make you feel better." Rayna smiled faintly.

"It will make me feel better. I don't like seeing you in pain, Ray." Deacon kissed the side of her face softly

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Two hours later, Rayna and Deacon were in the delivery room alone with a set of nurses and their OB. Rayna was fully dilated and 100% effaced, she was ready to push. Rayna laid back on the bed covered in sweat with her legs in the stirrups and her left hand clutching Deacon's tightly.

"Ok, Rayna - the hard part is almost over. All you gotta do is give me a few big pushes and she'll be here." Dr. Thompson spoke up from the stool at the foot of the bed at Rayna's legs. "On the next contraction I want you give me a real big, push."

Rayna nodded her head slowly and screamed loudly as another contraction hit and she pushed as hard as she could for 10 seconds and fell back onto the bed. "I want the epidural. It's too painful. She's too big." Rayna begged,

"It's too late for an epidural, Rayna. You're gonna have to do this the all natural way the way you wanted." Dr. Thompson spoke

Rayna groaned in displeasure and screamed again as she pushed once more with the next contraction. "I hate you, Deacon. I'm never having sex with you again." She yelled loudly.

Deacon kissed the top of her head softly, "I know you don't really mean that, but alright." He whispered lowly and kissed her head again, as Rayna pushed and screamed again.

"The head and shoulders are out. One more big push and you'll have a healthy baby girl." Dr. Thompson encouraged her.

Rayna shook her head tiredly. "I can't. I can't do it anymore. She's gonna have to stay in, I can't do it."

Dr. Thompson looked at Deacon and motioned for him to keep her focused to get her to push again. Deacon nodded his head and looked at Rayna.

"Baby, listen to me. You can do this, I know you can do this. She's almost here. Our baby is almost here, all I need you to do is give us all one more push and then we can hold our daughter. You are so strong, Rayna. You are the strongest woman I have ever known. I'm right here, I got you. Push for me, babe." Deacon squeezed her hand and kissed her cheeks, and wiped the sweat from her brow.

Rayna cried softly and looked up at him, "I'm too tired, Deacon." She whispered lowly.

"I know you are but you don't have much more to go." He whispered back and wiped the tears from her cheeks and kissed her again. "Let's have a baby, Ray." He whispered against her lips and squeezed her hand reassuringly again.

Rayna nodded her head and pulled her legs back and brought her chin to her chest as another contraction hit and she screamed loudly as she pushed harder than she had before. "SHE'S TEARING ME APART." She screamed out.

Seconds later the baby girls' wails flooded through the room as the doctor pulled her out the remainder of the way and laid the baby on Rayna's chest to allow the nurses wipe her off. "Congratulations, it's a girl." Dr. Thompson smiled at them, "Dad would you like to cut the cord?" He looked at Deacon.

Deacon nodded his head with tears in his eyes and took the scissors from the nurse to cut the umbilical cord. Rayna cried as she looked down at the brown eyed, blonde haired, tiny baby laying across her chest. She ran her finger along the baby's face and smiled through the tears. "So, you're the one that's been kicking me and keeping me up all night." She choked back

Deacon leaned his head against Rayna's and looked down at the baby on Rayna's chest, their baby. He wiped back the tears that had fallen from his eyes and kissed the side of Rayna's head. "She's perfect, Ray, just like you." He whispered against her temple. "You did so good, baby."

Rayna looked up at him and reached up to cup his face. "We did good." Rayna corrected him and pulled his face down to hers and pressed her lips to his. "I love you, Deacon."

"I love you, Rayna." Deacon whispered against her lips and kissed him back.

Rayna and Deacon stared down at their new daughter in awe of how perfect and beautiful she was. She was Deacon made over with his eyes and his hair. The only thing that remotely resembled Rayna was her nose. Rayna didn't need a DNA test to tell her who Fathered this child. She had known it from the second the pregnancy test turned blue and light up like the neon lights of Downtown Nashville. This baby was Deacon's child. His and hers, together. They had created this tiny creature.

"I don't know how I feel about the name Kalyn Leigh now." Rayna admitted, as the nurses took the newborn to get cleaned up, measured and weighed.

Deacon was sitting in the chair next to Rayna's bedside his eyes staying focused on the nurses in the corner of the room with his newborn daughter. He had always had a gut feeling that she was his, he never believed that she could possibly be Teddy's. Rayna had always swore to him that she and Teddy were safe when they were together, she and Deacon on the other hand were never that good at being safe — more often than not they were too caught up in the moment to even stop to think about protection, since she was on the pill.

"You don't wanna name her that anymore?" Deacon spoke slowly, he about jumped up out of the chair when the nurse pricked the baby's foot with a needle for blood work and the infant wailed out in pain.

"Now that I have seen her, she doesn't look like a Kalyn to me. She looks like a Maddison to me." Rayna admitted, "And I know we did talk about Maddison for a possible name,"

Deacon turned his attention to Rayna when he heard the new name she was pitching.

"I like Maddison, we could call her Maddie for short." Deacon reached for her hand and laced his fingers with hers. "What about Miranda for a middle name, after my mama?"

Rayna laced her fingers with his and smiled softly. "I love that. Maddison Miranda Claybourne. It's perfect, just like she is."

"Just like her mama." Deacon smirked.

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A/N: Here is the next chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Until next time please review.


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